Huai'an has a good person since ancient times, Shaanxi rice fat has a good reputation, King Chuang respects Zhang Shidi, and orders Suye not to disturb the city. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Zhang Shidi is an honest official, if Daming held a "Daming Good County Order", he would definitely be on the list, or he would have let the peasant army click a long time ago.

At this moment, he was following behind Li Dingguo in a hurry, visiting the big households and grain stores in Mizhi City.

Li Dingguo looked at the white flour that cost two taels of silver and one pound of rice and didn't fight one catty, but he didn't show it on his face, but quietly remembered all the names of these profiteer shops in his heart. And they also made marks on their doors, some of which were drawn with three long horizontal bars, and some of which were drawn with two vertical bars that were neither long nor short.

When he returned to the vicinity of the county office, Li Dingguo had a general understanding of the layout of the entire county, and also knew how much grain there was in the entire Mizhi county, "Lord Zhang, I don't think it's too early, let's go home!" ”

Zhang Shidi is a weak scholar and county magistrate, how can he have Li Dingguo's good physique, wiped the sweat on his forehead, secretly complained in his heart, and said secretly: "This is still bad, it didn't take a morning to turn all the granaries in the city without dropping, this young military master is really harsh." ”

Thinking so in his heart, he didn't dare to say this, and hurriedly replied: "Okay, the right turn of the alley in front of you is the county office." ”

Back at Mizhi County, Li Dingguo told Guan Shanyue about the situation in the city, Guan Shanyue was so angry that she took out her saber and cut off the corner of the table.

"Bastard, 200,000 catties of grain is enough for the people to eat for a while, this group of heinous grain merchants is hoarding, making the country rich, and drinking the blood of the people!"

Zhang Shidi was taken aback, he didn't expect the young governor in front of him to be so angry, "My lord is angry, the grain merchants in Shaanxi are like this, isn't it the nature of merchants to seek profit?" Why should adults be like them, it's not worth it if you're angry. ”

Li Dingguo raised his eyebrows, clenched his fists and said: "If the last general hadn't made a plan, saying that he wanted to buy their grain at a high price, this ** merchant would never have revealed how much grain they had in stock." Your Excellency, you can give orders, and leave the rest to your subordinates. ”

Guan Shanyue waved his hand to signal Li Dingguo to wait a moment, his eyes narrowed into a slit and stared at Zhang Shidi fiercely, and shouted: "You guy is not honest, just now this official went to check the granary under the leadership of the officials, and there were no particles in it, it was empty. However, this official checked the account books of the grain depot, but did not find any record of you opening the warehouse and releasing grain. How does this explain this? ”

Zhang Xianzhong pulled out the cold and shining Miao knife, and shouted: "The surname is Zhang, I, Zhang Xianzhong, hate corrupt officials the most, don't look at us as the same surname, if you can't give a reasonable explanation today, I will ask for your head on the spot." ”

Zhang Shidi had never seen this kind of battle, and without saying anything, he put the knife on his neck, and fell to the ground with a puff of fright, and said tremblingly: "My lord, the villain is wronged." Since the middle of the apocalypse, there has been a great drought in the northwest, but the amount of taxes in this county has remained unchanged, and it is still levied according to the harvest year, and the people have no grain to pay the grain tax. This is a natural disaster, and the lower officials will tell you about man-made disasters, because the war in Liaodong is tight, and there are many temporary conscriptions of soldiers and horses and the imperial court along the way, and suddenly I received an official document to take thousands of stones of beans and rice, and thousands of bundles of grass, and transport them to a certain battalion to pay. Suddenly, I received an official document asking me to buy a number of healthy mules and a number of cloth bags, and send them to a certain battalion for payment. Suddenly, I received an official document to buy a number of war horses and a number of copper pots, and send them to a certain battalion to pay. It only said that it was late to be dealt with by military law, but it did not say that it should be spent on those money and food, and how it should be reimbursed and accounted for in the future. The lower officials did not dare to slack off, nor could they bear to increase the burden of the people, so they had to eat the grain and resell the grain in the granary. ”

Guan Shanyue didn't expect that there would be such an inside story, so Zhang Xianzhong took back the Miao knife, helped Zhang Shidi up, and said with a guilty face: "Master Zhang, we misunderstood you, please don't forget your heart." ”

How dare Zhang Shidi go to his heart, now this soldier is not as good as before, now the top one is the uncle, and the slightest carelessness will lead to death.

However, there are many things that he does not vomit or be unhappy, and said with a sad face: "Lord Guan, the lower officials know that you are a popular person in front of the saint, but you don't know the suffering of the people, the people have long been overwhelmed, otherwise how could there be more than 50,000 people in my Mizhi County who willingly left their hometowns and emigrated outside the country." ”

Guan Shanyue heard that there was something in Brother Zhang's words, and hurriedly said: "Master Zhang has any opinions, but it doesn't hurt to say it. ”

If you just look at it on the books, the taxes of the Ming Dynasty are indeed not heavy. Excluding commercial taxes such as salt taxes and customs duties, the regular tax at the end of the Ming Dynasty was rated at 14 million taels per year. Not according to the actual number of acres, calculated according to about 580 million acres of taxable land, the average rated tax per mu of land is only 2 cents and 5 cents of silver, which is about 25 copper coins, or the corresponding amount of grain.

If calculated according to the population of 200 million, plus the "Liao salary" of the previous dynasty and the proposed Liao salary totaling 6.85 million taels, the per capita tax burden is only more than 1 yuan of silver.

Such a tax rate is relatively low both in China's history and in comparison with the situation in other countries around the world.

But the fact is far from the case, Zhang Shidi is determined to lift the lid to Guan Shanyue today.

He sighed and said depressedly: "My lord, the reason for the excessive burden on the people is that there are too many miscellaneous money and food, and there are both legal levies and semi-legal or illegal extortion here. There are many types of taxes other than the Ming Dynasty, although Zhang Juzheng implemented a whip law to clean up once, but after the resurgence, all kinds of novel miscellaneous taxes have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain. In particular, the "consumption of envy," which has become a rule, has become the backyard of officials at all levels to enrich their own pockets, and it has reached the point of knocking out the bones and sucking the marrow. ”

Cao County's angry wow-wow-wow, I can't wait to slash those dog officials now, "MD, the officials force the people to rebel, don't give the people a way to live, can the people not rebel!" ”

Guan Shanyue frowned, looking at the meaning of a hundred taels of silver, it would be good to have one or two pieces of silver into the treasury of the imperial court, he didn't expect things to come to such a shocking point, and he sat there silent for a long time.

Li Dingguo felt that Zhang Shidi was a good official, and couldn't bear to see him so disheartened, so he comforted: "Lord Zhang, there is still hope for the imperial court, don't you believe it, go to the four northern provinces to see, our officials there have a term of office, and they have to announce their respective assets before becoming officials." After the five-year term assessment, if you are not qualified, all will be awarded. If there is a situation of corruption, it will be investigated and dealt with at any time, not to mention confiscating family property and being exiled, and the relatives and friends of the five clans will never be officials. Also, the government will publicize them in the "Daming Daily" for free, so that they will be notorious and will never be able to raise their heads. ”

Zhang Shidi, who was depressed, was shocked when he heard this, and finally became popular, but his heart was full of suspicion and asked, "General Li, what you said is true?" ”

Zhang Xianzhong rolled his eyes, looked at the black and thin Zhang Shidi in front of him, and said angrily: "I was just like you before I went to Daning, and I didn't believe it if I was killed." But after I went, I vouched for the fact that it was true. ”

Guan Shanyue, who had been silent, suddenly spoke: "Master Zhang is a good official, and the county orders along the way are rarely as thin as you, all of them are pot-bellied. If you want to go to Daning as an official, I should ask the Holy One for a decree. However, the most important thing at the moment is to concentrate the grain of the whole county and arrange the migration of the first batch of disaster victims to Daning. ”

Although Guan Shanyue did not let him express his position on the spot, Zhang Shidi's heart was still extremely conflicted, he was reluctant to be the victims of Mizhi County, and wanted to go to Daning to see if it was really as they said.

Cao Bingzhang and Zhang Xianzhong looked at each other and smiled, the two of them whistled, took out the cold and shining Miao knife, and carried it on their shoulders.

All of a sudden, the sound of swords unsheathed in the room came and went.

Zhang Shidi looked at the Daning soldiers dancing with knives and guns in a daze, and said in surprise: "My lord, didn't you say that you bought it at a high price?" What does it mean to unsheath a sword? ”

Guan Shanyue glanced up at the warm sunshine outside the county office, the corners of her mouth raised slightly, and said lightly: "Your family doesn't kill pigs during the New Year?" What kind of world is this, how can you survive if you don't have a wild path. There are so many starving people outside the city, has this ** merchant ever pitied that group of people to give them a little bit of food? My soldiers in Daning do not protect the profiteers who make a fortune! ”

A noisy sound of footsteps sounded outside the door, and the soldiers of the Five Thousand Heavenly Wolf Battalion were ready to go.

Guan Shanyue stood outside the yamen and nodded at Li Dingguo, "You can start acting!" ”

Li Dingguo couldn't wait to get the answer, waved the spear in his hand, and shouted loudly: "Lord Guan has an order to gather all the grain in Mizhi County." Remember, a horizontal bar of 1,000 catties of grain, a vertical bar of 10,000 catties of grain, there are circles and weapons, be careful, I don't want to hear about someone injured in the operation, go! ”

The five thousand soldiers of the Heavenly Wolf Battalion came out like hungry wolves who chose people to devour, and it was still too late for the treacherous grain merchants in Mizhi City to close the board.